Assessing Learning-Centered Leadership Andrew C. Porter University of Pennsylvania Joseph Murphy, Ellen Goldring, & Stephen N. Elliott Vanderbilt University.

Assessing Learning-Centered Leadership

Andrew C. Porter

University of PennsylvaniaJoseph Murphy, Ellen Goldring, & Stephen N. Elliott

Vanderbilt UniversityOctober 2010

The Goal – Produce a Psychometrically Sound Assessment of School Leadership The team – Porter, Murphy, Goldring, Elliott,

O’Toole, Cravens The Stimulus and Support – The Wallace

Foundation identified the need, provided $1.5 million of support for 2005 to 2008. The Institute for Education Sciences is currently funding psychometric studies for the period of 2008 to 2012.

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Purposes of school leadership assessment To guide self improvement and professional

development For high stakes decisions; pay for performance,

tenure

Higher student achievement Better teacher retention

Benefits of better school leaders

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The need for multiple measures when making high stakes decisions “As the stakes of testing increase for individual students, the

importance of considering additional evidence to document the validity of score interpretations and the fairness in testing increases accordingly” (AERA, APA, NCME, 1999, p.141).

Value added to student achievement is one measure. A direct assessment of learning centered leadership such as

the VAL-ED is another The relative weight given to each measure is an important

consideration. Probably greater weight, say 0.75, to behavior in a principal’s first year in a building and less as the principal continues in the same building, say 0.25.

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Learning-Centered Leadership Leaders should be assessed on leadership behaviors

associated with student learning. Learning-centered leadership is leadership for student

performance. Learning-centered leadership is the framework for our

leadership assessment system.

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Leadership Behavior Framework

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Purpose & Uses

The VAL-ED reports principal performance through Norm-referenced scores and Criterion-reference scores.

VAL-ED can be used annually or more frequently to: Facilitate a data-based performance evaluation, Measure performance growth, and Guide professional development.

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An Example Set of Responses

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Assessing Learning-Centered Leadership:The VAL-ED vision…A leadership assessment system that has the following properties:

Works well in a variety of settings and circumstances, Is construct valid, Is reliable, If feasible for widespread use, Provides accurate and useful reporting of results. Is unbiased, Yields a diagnostic profile for summative and formative purposes. Can be used to measure progress over time in the development of

leadership, and Predicts important outcomes.

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Some Results Respondent Groups – Supervisors (3.68) were significantly more

positive than were teachers (3.59) or principals (3.53). There were no significant differences among levels of schooling

(with controls high school principals were slightly less effective). There was no difference between Forms A (3.61) and C (3.62). The greater a principal’s years of experience in their school, the

more effective the principal. Internal Consistency – Internal consistency reliability was high for

both total score and each of the core components and each of the key processes with all reliabilities .87 or higher.

For total score, the correlation between principal and supervisor was .13, principal and teacher .27, supervisor and teacher .18.

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Aggregated Effectiveness Ratings

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Comparisons Across Respondent Groups

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Cell-by-Cell Feedback

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Supporting Research & Publications

Murphy, J. , Elliott, S.N., Goldring, E., & Porter, A.C. (In Press). Leaders for productive schools. In M. Brundrett & M. Crawford (Eds.), Developing School Leaders: An International Perspective.London: Routledge.

Porter, A.C., Polikoff, M.S., Goldring, E., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., & May, H. (2010). Investigating the validity and reliability of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education. The Elementary School Journal, 111(2).

Porter, A.C., Polikoff, M.S., Goldring, E., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., & May, H. (April 2010). Developing a psychometrically sound assessment of school leadership: The VAL-ED as a case study. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46(2), 135-173.

Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., Goldring, E., & Porter, A. C. (2010) Leaders for productive schools. In B. McGaw, P. Peterson, & E. Baker (Eds), International Encyclopedia of Education (3rd ed.). Elsevier.

Polikoff, M.S., May, H., Porter, A.C., Elliott, S.N., Goldring, E., & Murphy, J. (November 2009). An examination of differential item functioning in the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education. Journal of School Leadership, 19(6), 661-679.

Goldring, E., Porter, A.C., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., & Cravens, X. (2009). Assessing learning-centered leadership: Connections to research, professional standards, and current practices. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 8(1), 1-36.

Goldring, E., Cravens, X. C., Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., Porter, A. C. & Carson, B., (2009). The evaluation of principals: What and how do states and urban districts assess leadership? The Elementary School Journal, 110(1), 19-39.

Goldring , E., Porter, A., Murphy, J., Elliot, S., & Cravens, X. (2009).  Assessing Learning-Centered Leadership: Connections to Research, Standards and Practice.  Leadership and Policy in Schools, 8(1), 1-36.

Goldring, E. Porter, A. Pollikoff, M (2008). Report on the Study to Evaluate the Performance Level Descriptors for the VAL-ED. New York, NY: Wallace Foundation.

Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., Goldring, E., & Porter, A.C. (2007). Leadership for learning: A research-based model and taxonomy of behaviors. School Leadership & Management, 27 (2), 179-201.

Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., Goldring, E.B., & Porter, A.C. (2006). Learning-centered leadership: A conceptual foundation. New York, NY: Wallace Foundation.

Murphy, J.F., Goldring, E.B., Cravens, X.C., Elliott, S.N., Porter, A.C. (2007, August). The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education: Measuring Learning-Centered Leadership. Journal of East China Normal University.

Porter, A.C., Goldring, E.B., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., & Cravens, X. (2006). A framework for the assessment of learning-centered leadership. New York, NY: Wallace Foundation.

Porter, A.C., Goldring, E.B., Elliott, S.N., Murphy, J., Polikoff, M., and Cravens, X. (2008). Setting Performance Standards for the VAL-ED Assessment of Principal Leadership, New York: NY: Wallace Foundation.

Porter, A.C., Goldring, E.B., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., Polikoff, M., and May, H. (2008). VAL-ED Assessment of Principal Leadership Technical Manual, New York, NY: Wallace Foundation.

Elliott, S.N., Porter, A.C., Goldring, E.B., Murphy, J., Polikoff, M., and May, H. (2008). VAL-ED Users’ Guide, New York, NY: Wallace Foundation.

These and other publications are all available for download at http://www.valed.com.

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Reliability and Validity Studies in Progress – IES-funded IES-funded Studies

Known Group Study – Does the VAL-ED reliably distinguish principals who are identified by others as more or less effective?

Test/Retest Reliability Consequences Study – Study of How the VAL-ED Was Used and to What Effect Longitudinal Study – Does effectiveness as measured by the VAL-ED predict

future gains in student achievement?

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To Learn More …

Google: VAL-ED

We invite conversation with you on the timely and important topic of school leadership assessment

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